Baling Hay
Member
well my soya never even got to harvest and spring oats haven't done very well - I certainly loose some
What about the lupins?
Farm open day with No-till Bill
- Thread starter martian
- Start date
What about the lupins?
looking good but still a week / 10 days from harvest, millet still to dessicate so that will be end of September I think also looks good at the moment
in beans at the moment
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
We're really struggling atm to get the crops in. Moistures are hovering just too high to deal with and time is very much getting along. Still lots to combine and the blooming combine managed 10ac at 17.5% today before breaking. Poor combine driver is tearing his hair out.
So what do you think is the reasons for the crops' performance this year? Have you heard how anyone nearby has done? How did that spring Mulika that we saw in your tour do? Your pictures from the spring looked good.
Haven't really heard how locals have done, one near neighbour on light ground (all dd) had to buy in 200 tonnes extra at Camgrain (wish I'd talked to him sooner, could have sold him some of ours...only way to get rid of it... but we are not talking Camgrain now) as his harvest was uniformly excellent. Certainly some of our winter crops sat with wet feet all winter which can't have helped. A lot of blackgrass in places, a bit of Simoning behind two year leys, brought Solstice average down. Even perfect looking Solstice failed to breach 3.5t/a, think there may have been a N application cock-up.
Mulika you saw on tour did 2.5, there were thin patches all over from low seed rate/Simoning behind covers/slugs etc etc and even where it looked best the crop never really shone. Worst areas more like 1 tonne. Thanks for all your reassuring words...made me feel a lot better
This weather this week has been a pig for not drying the grain, sun never came out for more than a few minutes at a time (despite the forecast) and no wind. You are welcome to borrow our combine Feldspar, we've finished with it now! I imagine you are having a barn-busting harvest if you have lots still to do...
Mulika you saw on tour did 2.5, there were thin patches all over from low seed rate/Simoning behind covers/slugs etc etc and even where it looked best the crop never really shone. Worst areas more like 1 tonne. Thanks for all your reassuring words...made me feel a lot better
This weather this week has been a pig for not drying the grain, sun never came out for more than a few minutes at a time (despite the forecast) and no wind. You are welcome to borrow our combine Feldspar, we've finished with it now! I imagine you are having a barn-busting harvest if you have lots still to do...
SilliamWhale
Member
I'm not so sure on your theory of simonisation in winter sown crops John. I can see what your getting at in the spring ( only a bit though) but I'm wondering if your putting other issues was aside and presuming its simoning because I don't see it as much as you seem too.
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dontknowanything
Member
- Location
- Cambridge
For what it's worth (not much probably) when I saw your wheat in the spring after grass leys it looked to me like they were very hungry for N, I assumed from the breakdown of the root mass. Have you considered getting a derogation to put in some seedbed N as a trial at drilling to see if that helps?
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
Agree on the black-grass point. Have seen it half the yield in the worst bits this year. Takes about a 1/3 of the yield off in the moderate areas. Winter wheat yields will have been really helped this year by not doggedly putting the worst fields back into winter wheat, instead putting them into spring crops which, apart from the beans, are pretty clean this year.
I'm not so sure about the wet feet bit though because our no-till stuff did very well and it was on pretty heavy clay. It may well be variety dependent. There was some really interesting TAG research that looked at how varieties fared in either really wet or really dry conditions. There was quite a considerable spread in performance. Our no-till field was JB Diego which IIRC performed as well as anything else in very wet conditions. Same with Santiago.
Weather over the last few days has been rather stressful. What is worrying me is that this is our fine spell now and we have two weeks of wet weather to come. Thank you very much for the offer but we'll get the demonstrator combine from the local MF dealer to help finish. We have had a good harvest so far but the main delay though has been very annoying isolated showers and repeated combine breakdowns.
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Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
Have just dug out the relevant TAG page. Invicta is listed as a variety "that perform relatively better in late, dry conditions".
Santiago and Diego are "stable varieties that perform relatively well despite extreme conditions, whether it be very wet or very dry".
Cordiale has been exceptional this year for us and that "performs relatively better in wet conditions". Problem is Solstice is on that list too!!
- Location
- leics/warks border
Our Mulika has been disapointing, Disc drilled into linseed stubble late march, so no "simons" effect, it looked good untill the leaf started to die back. Then suddenly looked very thin with a lot of small ears. It seems to have done just under 2.5t/a. Still have the worst looking bits to do. Winter wheat (Gallant) in same stubble did about 4t (did n't get it all drilled before it rained). If I had to give a reason it would have to be rain fall and temperatures at critical times.
I don't know what weather forecast you have been looking at Feldspar but for here it has forecast dry for at least 5 days.
I don't know what weather forecast you have been looking at Feldspar but for here it has forecast dry for at least 5 days.
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Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
Haven't combined it yet but saw the same thing with Mulika. I thick the big rolling flag leaves make it look much thicker than it actually is. Can now see the gaps between the rows of the strip till drill clearly. Spring barely on the other hand completely met across the rows.
- Location
- Essex Coast
Similar yields to you here, John. Mulika 2.5, also thought it was a bit thin but I put it down to a flock of rooks which were impossible to shift for six weeks after drilling. Marofat peas 1.2 but a lot better than some others locally. So difficult to get honest yields out of neighbours for proper comparisons but one guy said his Mulika did 3.5 but only got one trailer load or peas off 30 acres, you win some, you lose some. Winter beans from 1.5 to 2.5, average 2.0.
I had some great looking wheat, but none got to 4 tons an acre, mostly 3.5. Averaged 4 tons over whole farm ten years ago, so it does put doughts in your mind but then I haven't a clue what anyone else's has done locally.
We still have a lot to learn, I think varieties have a lot to do with it. I did a no-till variety trial for KWS, second wheat, 5 different varieties but everything else the same, the worst did 2.5 and the best 3.6.
I had some great looking wheat, but none got to 4 tons an acre, mostly 3.5. Averaged 4 tons over whole farm ten years ago, so it does put doughts in your mind but then I haven't a clue what anyone else's has done locally.
We still have a lot to learn, I think varieties have a lot to do with it. I did a no-till variety trial for KWS, second wheat, 5 different varieties but everything else the same, the worst did 2.5 and the best 3.6.
dontknowanything
Member
- Location
- Cambridge
Are you allowed to say what the varieties were?
- Location
- Essex Coast
My bed time now, I will start a new thread tomorrow.
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
We are just on our last winter wheat field. Was expecting this to be finishing on a definite low. Drilled late into a field which was drilled in terrible conditions the year before which caused quite a drainage problem in the field. Didn't get an autumn pre-em on, plant establishment was poor and the plant count low and there was a considerable amount of black-grass. Crop looked terrible all winter and pretty poor through the spring siting in very wet conditions. I pleaded with my father to spray it off and was not supportive of the idea of putting on two SDHIs and a full nitrogen programme. The black-grass was bad and I wasn't wrong about that ... but have just been looking at the telemetery and it seems to be yielding as well as any of our other wheat fields. If ever there was a situation where one's hat had to be eaten this is probably it. It has been a ridiculous year for winter wheat here.
I'm sure that you are right willy. I am quite relaxed about blackgrass really, as it is 'under control' on most of our ground, especially with spring crops and two year leys. Thinking back to Feldspar's point about wheat doing well despite having wet feet all winter, two of our best bits of wheat fell into that category...I thought we'd have to spray off and redrill one in the spring, but it tillered up and romped away once the weather perked up. Invicta too. As Simon says, we've still got a lot to learn. What fun!